Radiators
by vcawarrior15
Summary: 6 people, 200 years in the future, plus some side effects of too much radiation... Nothing could possibly go wrong. (Set after my story "Something Interesting")
1. Introduction

Phineas rubbed his head in frustration. He had a crucial decision to make and it was up to him make the right choice. One wrong move could ruin the entire thing. All the choices had to be weighed out cause if not; the entire party could be wiped out. Time seemed to slow down the more Phineas thought, and he wasn't making a decision that was going to make things worse.

"For all that is good and decent Phin, make your move!" Ferb yelled from across the table.

Phineas looked up at his brother. "I'm trying, but this is important."

"We know that, Dinna' bell, but it's not like this is going to kill you." Buford added

"Well technically it can-" Baljeet said before Buford slugged him in the arm.

"Why did you two have to make things so difficult?" Phineas asked his adversaries.

"We didn't, you and your team merely failed to stop us." Bryan defended himself.

"Did Phineas make a move yet?" Bryan's ally and best friend, Dallas, asked as he returned from the kitchen with a bowl of Cheetoes, and a Monster energy drink.

"No, we did a good job of moving him into a corner."

"Well that was the point." Dallas commented as he sat down.

Phineas looked the board over one more time, and then with as much confidence as he could muster, Phineas placed the last of his pieces. "I'm going to attack Greenland from Iceland."

Bryan smiled and grabbed his set of dice from the table. A few rolls of the dice later, Phineas' ranks had been decimated, and immediately after that, Dallas' armies swopped in and cleared the board of any opposition that was left.

Ferb, Baljeet, Buford and Phineas groaned in frustration.

"This is the third time!" Baljeet spouted out.

"Are you two cheating?" Buford eyed the friends.

"Nope, just really good at 'Risk'." Dallas answered.

"Are you guys done in here?" Isabella asked, sticking her head in the room.

"Yes, we just finished." Phineas answered. Isabella walked across the room and sat down in Phineas' lap. Phineas blushed.

"So did you guys win?" Isabella wandered.

"No, we lost… again…" Phineas muttered.

"Again? What's up with you guys?" Addison asked as she too entered from a different room, walking over to Ferb, leaning over the back of his chair and giving him a hug.

"I don't know, we just haven't figured out a way to beat them yet." Ferb answered. Ginger and Katie made their way from the other room and over to their perspective partners, Baljeet and Bryan respectively.

"It's not like we're trying that hard. We just know what we are going to do." Dallas defended. His heart pained a little bit, looking around at the group and everyone in a couple besides himself.

"Oh Dallas, where is Alex at? We invited her to come?" Isabella asked.

"Oh, she said that she didn't want to come. Said she had some family stuff to do tonight." His heart did a flutter a little bit at the sound of his crush's name.

"Oh, well I wish she coulda had the chance to come. I know that you would have liked for her to be here." Isabella winked at Dallas.

Dallas rolled his eyes. "Can we please move on from talking about me? Not a big fan of it."

"Fine, fine; you do know that we do care that you have some kind of success in all aspects of your life. Even after you did those things a couple of years ago." Phineas reminisced.

"That is certainly something I don't want to talk about." Dallas shuddered at the thought, remembering what had happened.

"But we've moved on, and so now we look on to new things."

"Speaking of which, what's everybody doing tomorrow?" Isabella asked.

"Baljeet is taking me too… where was it again?" Ginger asked.

"On a road trip, to see some of the best Christmas light displays in Danville." Baljeet reminded. "Yes, it isn't much, but I remember how much you like to see the lights." Ginger's smile was huge as she gave Baljeet a tight hug.

"I think Millie wants to do something…" Buford looked over at his girlfriend.

"You promised to come with me to see my grandparents."Hey, we're going to Millie's grandparents."

"I don't think we have anything to do tomorrow," Ferb answered, looking at Phineas, who shook his head.

"And I know that mom would want me to do something, even though it is Christmas break." Addison added.

"Well, if you guys want, you can come over to my house. Maybe we'll watch some movies or something." Isabella offered. "And yes Dallas, you can come too."

"Oh, ok. Thanks for the invite. I won't be in the way will I?"

"Of course not."

"Alright, so do we need to bring anything, or what time we meeting, things like that?"

"Don't worry bout anything. I'll take care of everything." Isabella commented.

The older man walked into the large empty room, book in his hand. Five people, hand chosen by him and luckily for him, born with the talent he needed, had been assembled. His top medics ready to assist them when needed. His second in command meet him as he reached the small group.

"Is everything taken care of?"

"Yes, sir. Everything is ready." The second replied. "The largest, empty, enclosed area we could get, the best teleporters in the entire army, and the best medics that aren't already on a mission.

"Good," the older man opened the book to the page he needed, "Let's begin."


	2. Transportation

Bryan stomped his feet on the welcome mat in front of the Garcia-Shapiro house hold, before ringing on the doorbell. The snow wasn't deep, a dusting mostly, but his body hadn't adjusted to this year's cooler weather. A few moments later, Addison answered the door.

"Finally, you're here." Addison greeted.

"I know, I know, but mom wanted to do some things first before I could leave, and I couldn't say no." Bryan explained as he entered the house.

"It's no big deal, but considering for the first time in a long time that you are the last person to get here, it's a little different."

"Wait Dallas beat me here? That is a change." Bryan added as he hung his coat on the rack next to the door. "Where's Alex and Katie?"

"Doing other things. They wanted to come, but prior engagements and such. Kinda like what happened with Baljeet, Ginger, Buford and Millie." Addison explained.

Back in the kitchen, Ferb was stirring a pot filled with ingredients. Bryan walked in and took a deep breath through his nose. "Man, it smells good in here. What is it?"

"One of Grandmother Fletcher's best soup recipes. With the temperature as it is right now, I thought it would be nice to fix it, and thankfully, Ms. Vivian was kind enough to help me get the ingredients together."

"I think mom was surprised when someone else asked to cook." Isabella commented.

"So how long till it's done?" Bryan asked.

Ferb tapped the wooden spoon on the side of the pot before placing a lid over the top. "It has to simmer for a while and then it will be done."

"So suggestions on what we do until that's done?" Dallas asked, sitting on a barstool next to one of the cabinets.

(*)(*)

"Focus your energies together. You are going to have to transport a lot of complex things, and probably the hardest thing about this job is the time difference." The first in command told.

"Uh, sir, time difference?" One of the transporters asked.

"It's in the past. The only reason that this is being tried is because of the information in this book. Without it, this opportunity wouldn't even be possible. You are going to have to listen to my commands even more than you ever had before. If it wasn't for your loyalty in the first place, you wouldn't have been selected for this task."

"Sir, if you think this is best, let's get started."

"Alright, what I tell you is only what I'm reading. You're going to have follow the words, but your abilities are the ones that are going to be doing the work." The commander looked at the book in his hand. "Focus your energies and form a circle, just like a normal teleporting." The teleporters turned toward each other and began forming a large circle, the runes etching themselves in light on the ground. "Now, the next part is the hardest part, the changing through time…"

((**))((**))

"And that's why I will never be allowed near the Danville Zoo for the rest of my life." Bryan finished telling his story. The rest of the group stood silently, mouths hanging open. Bryan rolled his eyes. "You guys said to tell an interesting story."

"Yes, yes we did. I just don't think we expected to hear that." Phineas replied.

"Still it was interesting none the less." Isabella added, taking down glasses from the cabinet.

"Well after that story, I don't think that I want to hear another one." Phineas shook his head.

"Then how about a toast?" Isabella asked, expertly sliding the filled glasses to the people that were there.

"That'll work, but what do we toast to?"

"How bout… just to a new beginning?" Dallas offered

"Hmm, it's simple, true, and something I think we can all agree on; to a new beginning!" Phineas raised his glass.

"To a new beginning." The rest of the group followed Phineas' example, raising and tapping their glasses together in a toast.

Phineas lifted the drink to his lips and took a sip. He looked outside and noticed something peculiar. A dusting of snow that had been blown off of the roof in front of the window was floating in mid-air. It wouldn't have been such a new development if it was for the fact that the snow was completely blocking the view from the window.

The entire room began to dim in light, except for around the 6 teens. Phineas looked at his friends, who began to notice the oddities around them. Suddenly, a loud crack was heard and two bright lights appeared on the floor, each opposite each other. Everyone was surprised, not understanding what was going on. Then the lights began to split, beginning to create two rings. As the lights spread, everyone that could began to group close to each other.

"Phineas, what's going on?" Isabella asked.

"I don't know. You got something?" Phineas looked over at Ferb. Ferb simply shook his head.

"This isn't some kind of prank is it?" Addison questioned.

"I think that the gig would have been up by now." Bryan answered.

As the two rings of blue light finished encompassed the group, both the circles flashed bright light, with weird symbols appeared in the space between the circles.

"I got a bad feeling about this…" Dallas said, as he watched the symbols finishing appearing.

A loud humming began to emanate as the light that was on the floor began to shoot up into the ceiling, forming a cylinder around the group. Everyone was confused and truth be known kinda scared. Phineas raised his hand to head to rub his temples but stopped himself before he did. His hand was a translucent color, with small particles quickly leaving his hand and shooting up in the air.

Phineas turned to show everyone else his disappearing hand, but he was a little slow. The entire gang was staring at their arms and legs as they too began to dissipate into nothing.

Bryan was the first to completely disappear. His and feet were gone first, and then almost immediately his torso and head were gone as well. Addison's body quickly followed suit, then Dallas and Ferb. Phineas tried to grab Isabella's hand before either one of them disappeared, but their hands simply slipped through each other. Isabella disappeared and before Phineas disappeared, he looked around the room and wondered if it was the last time he would ever see it again…

((**))((**))

The first thing that Phineas remembered was his eyesight returning, then the feelings in his hands and feet… He looked to his left and right and everyone that he just saw disappear into nothing appeared near him, just as fine as they were before. Everyone seemed glad that they weren't dead or something. Some even started laughing, until Addison decided to look down. Her face fell and tapped Ferb's shoulder. He turned to Addison and followed her hand as she pointed down. Ferb did the same to Phineas, and he followed suit until they all realized that they were floating about ten feet off of the ground. Then the proverbial rug was ripped from underneath their feet, as a few yelped and flailed as they feel from in the air to the ground.

The sound of people gasping for breath and the pounding of feet on the floor filled the room. Isabella was the first to recover from the fall. She saw people were bent over or on the ground, breathing heavily while being attended to people dress in white.

"Quickly, get them to the infirmary. This took a lot out of them, and they are going to need extra care." A voice commanded over the bustle.

The teens turned their heads toward where the vice was coming from. A tall man, roughly six foot six, with a graying goatee and thinning salt and pepper hair, came strolling from his spot near the edge of the room. His forest green and red diagonally stripped shirt and blue jeans felt like a welcome sight compared to the bland of the room and the bright white of the first group of people. "They will be fine, but they'll need a good amount of time for recovery."

"Yes sir." One of the people in white replied.

The older man turned from his subordinates and looked at the teens that had appeared. "Sorry for this inconvenience."

"I'll say…" Addison interrupted, rubbing her head from the fall.

"But allow me to introduce myself. My name is John, and I am the one that brought you here."

"And where exactly is here?" Phineas asked.

"Well, this particular place is an old hangar bay, added during the wars to the property formerly known as Fort Knox."

"Wait, wait, Fort Knox…, as in the gold safe place in Kentucky?"

"Yes, that one; or at least it used to be."

"Was?" Isabella asked.

"Well, about 50 years after the war had finished, the First raided the gold safes. Now this place is still a government base, but with no gold." John explained.

"Hold up!" Phineas yelled out. "First of all, 50 years ago, the First, Fort Knox with no gold? What the heck is going on?"

John smacked his forehead. "My apologies, I have been working with so many people, I have forgotten that things are different-"

A blur quickly ran into the room and stopped at John's side. "Sir, sensors indicate a group of five heading in from the gate."

"Identify them. It should be group three on return from their mission. If not, detain the trespassers."

"Yes sir," and as quick as he appeared, the person disappeared in another blur out of the room.

The whole group was dumbfounded. That person had moved at speeds inhumanly possible. It had to be a trick or something. John noticed their looks and smirked.

"I have a lot to discuss with you. Please get up and come with me."

The group removed themselves from the pile they had fallen in, dusting themselves off. Dallas tried to stand up but quickly fell back down.

"Clumsy feet, get back up." Bryan poked.

Dallas shook his head. "No, I'm too nauseated."

John frowned at Dallas' statement. He walked over to Dallas, pulled a small flashlight from his pocket, and shined it in Dallas' eyes. In the bottom of his eyes, shades of red and green were beginning to pool. "Crud."

"What's wrong?" Ferb asked.

"He's absorbing too much radiation, and his body can't keep up. Give me your right arm." Dallas lifted his arm as John reached for something else in his pocket. John held Dallas' arm steady and with a quick flick of the wrist, he put a small cut in Dallas' arm above the elbow with the knife that he had in his pocket.

Dallas yelled in pain. "What the heck you do that for?"

"It's to help control the radiation absorption. It will keep you from getting sick." John switched back to his flashlight and looked back in Dallas' eyes. The pooling that had already started didn't go away but it did nearly completely stop the pooling. "Now quickly, before the rest of you get sick, follow me." John helped Dallas off the ground and began to lead the group down a few hallways. At the end of one of the hallways a large white room, set up like a military barracks. John led Dallas over to one of the sets of bunk beds and sat down, trying to stop the bleeding from the cut that he had made.

"Do any of you have some medical training?" John asked the teens. Isabella and Addison raised their hands, having earned a few patches for medical training. "There are some supplies in a drawer over there." John pointed to the drawer. "Please grab some gauze."

Isabella quickly did as she was asked, even applying the bandage as her training took over. John who knew what to do, allowed Isabella to continue, allowing himself to observe her work. As soon as Isabella was sure that the bleeding was stopped and the bandage was going to hold, she cut the gauze and returned it to the drawer.

"Thanks Isabella." Dallas thanked.

"No problem, although I think now," Isabella turned and looked at John, "I think it's time we got a history lesson."


	3. History lesson

About 200 years ago, the nuclear war that everyone had feared had come to fruition. Not many people really remember who activated the first missile, or who one; but those that did survive had to fight the radiation. For many years the human race had to fight to stay alive just against the radiation, let alone the other people that had survived and the other basic things that everyone needed.

But one day, in the ruins of some town, a book was found. It wasn't a shock to find a book; it was because the book was completely unscathed. No burns, no markings, not one thing that would have shown this book was in the middle of some ruins of a huge city and survived. Inside this book, it told of a time when many people would be dying due to the complications of radiation poisoning. It then gave the odd "cure" for radiation poisoning, runes. Runes, carved into the body similar to a tattoo, would allow the body to safely absorb the radiation, turning into simple proteins that could be easily broken down inside the body. It also gave great detail about how to carve a rune, as well as how to make it more elaborate, things of that nature.

As soon as this cure was discovered, people were quickly trained in rune carving and began to disperse across the globe. Almost immediately, the radiation epidemic stopped, and people were able to stabilize food and water shortages that were quickly killing everyone.

A generation passed, trying to rebuild from the war. As the first generation turned into the next, strange abnormalities began to occur. The children of the people that had runes in the first generation were born with runes already inside their bodies; and even more surprising that legends of people with powers, similar to those of "super heroes" from olden times began to spread quickly. Those in charge of the study of runes looked to their source, The Book of Prophecies", as it was now being called. The excitement from finding a cure had kept people from looking farther ahead into the book and finding that indeed, it was possible that people might develop powers from runes. When the runes broke down the radiation into proteins, the proteins themselves were the actual thing giving people the ability to have powers. No one could explain the phenomenon; it was only what was written in the book.  
However, that was the only good thing. As people began to learn to use their powers, many began to use them for evil purposes. People were killed, stores, banks, treasuries were looted. It became nearly as lawless as the time immediately after the end of the war.

As it always seems to happen, a major conflict began between those known as the "First", those that united to use their powers to help, and those known as "Nether-runers". The conflict came to a major battler when the leader of the Nether-runners attacked the headquarters of the First, were the Book of Prophecies was located, hoping to take it and complete the overtaking of the world. The only way that he was to be defeated, as written in the book was by someone sacrificing themselves, taking on the six power runes and using their power to defeat the Nether-runners. So the leader of the First took it upon himself as the martyr. He had the six runes carved into his body, and defeated the leader of the Nether-runners.

The First considered this the ultimate victory, but there were some that knew that the toll had to be paid. Because of the use of the six runes, his body began to deteriorate at an extremely rapid pace. Before he died, the leader of the First gave the Book and his command to his top general and friend.

"Read, study, and watch; you are going to need be ready." He told his general.

"Ready for what?"

The leader of the First didn't say, and he passed away. As the general began his tenure as the head commander, the Nether-runners that had survived the major battle began to regroup and spread.

(*)(*)

"That's where we find ourselves today. You are in a headquarters of The First, and you have been brought here for a purpose. Al I can say right now it was written in the Book that you were to be brought here."

"Wait, the Book said something about us?" Phineas asked.

"Well, not specifically. It gave us directions and locations, and you all happened to be where the circle was placed. There is no possible way that this is all coincidence. You all were brought here for a reason."

"That sounds like a bit of a stretch." Addison added, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Look, you don't have t believe me; nor do I think that you actually will. All I can do I hope that you are going to trust me." John stood up and headed toward the door. "I have some work that needs to be taken care of. I'll be back in an hour or if you make a decision before then, get Dallas over there to wave somebody down. Because of that mark I gave him, he's the only one that can go out of this room without possibly getting extremely sick. I hope you come to a decision quickly, I know you all will choose right." John opened the door and was almost out.

"Hey John," Bryan called out. John stopped and turned around to his questioner. "What's your rune, what is it that you do best?"

John smirked. "Choose to stay and you will find out." And John this time left the room, leaving the six teens to think amongst themselves.

Addison was the first to speak up. "Does anyone else besides me think that this is a little 'out there'?"

Ferb shrugged. "Just a little, but let's be honest, considering what we have done in our lifetime, this isn't as strange as it could be."

"But still, what are we going to do? Whatever is going on here seems like a big deal. He seemed really intent on wanting to stay here for however long. "Isabella added.

"May I say something?" Dallas spoke out, finally sitting up from being sick for the first time since they had gotten there. "Look I may not be all here right now, my head is swimming so bad right now, it's a pain; but think about it, what has been the one thing that nearly every has wanted t be at least once in their life? Be a superhero. Granted this isn't exactly comic book stuff that we are talking about here; but we get to have super powers. Just for that I'm willing to try this thing out. What's the worst that can happen?"

"We all die in an awful death." Bryan replied flatly.

"Ok, besides that, it's not going to get much worse." The rest of the group looked at each other, some uneasily, some considering the options. "I'm throwing my hat in and I want to stay, but I think this is something that we all have to agree on."

"I'll stay too." Bryan agreed with Dallas.

"What do you think bro, should we stay?" Phineas asked Ferb. Ferb smiled and gave a thumbs up.  
Addison and Isabella looked at each other. "I have always wanted to be a super hero, although not exactly like the ones we made for that movie all those summers ago." Isabella admitted.

Addison shrugged. "I guess I'm the only one that's completely against it, but I don't think that I can pass up on an opportunity like this one."

"So it's decided then."


	4. Rune writing

Jeff looked over a map of the local landscape, waiting for a few more of his scout teams to return on new information about the Nether-runers' and their movements. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Come in," John called to the knocker.

"Sir, someone was asking for you; he was outside the A.R.R."

"The A.R.R.? What is that again?"

"The A.R.R., the Anti Radiation Room. It was your idea to name it."

"Ah, that's right. Anyway, thank you for telling me."

"Sir," the underling stopped John.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Is it true sir, could they really be the Six?" the underling asked.

John sighed. "To be completely honest, I don't know. But if you remember, I'm one of the few in the world that are able to tell, and I don't think I would have had the pulsations that I had being near them they way I would have if they were the wrong group."

"I understand sir, it's just... some don't believe they are gonna be capable. They don't look ready."

"Oh, and would you say that you were ready to be a military man when you first joined our cause? If I told you a few years ago before you joined that you would be able to control your powers to the extent that you now? The only difference between you and those six young adults in that room is that you have had your powers since you were born."

"I'm sorry sir I didn't mean any offense."

John walked to the door and put his hands on the underling's shoulders. "I know that, and you have to trust me, no trust them; that they will be able to fulfill the prophecy. That's all we can hope for. Now, run and tell them to ready the writing room." The underling gave a salute and ran down the hallway to alert to John's request.

For John, a few steps down the hall in the opposite direction and then a turn down another and he was at the A.R.R. Trying to be somewhat polite, he knocked on the door before entering. The small group of 17, 18 19 year old were laughing and talking, almost not noticing that John had entered.

"So I was told that you all were looking for me?" John alerted the group to gain their attention. The teens turned and looked at John.

"Yes, yes we were, and we made a decision." Phineas replied.

"Oh, and so what have you decided?"

"We want to stay."

John smiled as he nodded his head. "Alright, this is great. You all wouldn't believe how excited I am. But now that you have decided to stay, there are things that need to be done, most important is you need a rune."

"That's something we were just wandering about. You do you get a rune? I mean you were born with one, but we obviously did not. So what do we have to do?" Addison asked.

"Well remember in the book, the original runes were put into you. There is only a few people in the world that can write runes onto people, and only one has the book at their disposal to write the runes in the most stable and powerful way."

"And are we going to meet this person?"

"You will meet him soon. I might suggest that you might select who goes in what order. It can take some time to write runes, and it is a very difficult, delicate, and dexterous process. Once you're finished, you will be led to the mess hall to get something to eat, and some basic information that you will need to know about runes, using your runes, etc. Everything clear so far?" Everyone nodded. "Good, I'm going to go and make sure everything is prepared. I'll send a person to fetch you one at a time." John turned and quickly left the room, leaving the teens alone once again.

"Alright, anyone up for volunteering?" Bryan asked the group.

Everyone looked at each other, not really saying anything. "Fine; it's going to be rock, paper, then."

"Can't we draw straws or something else? Maybe there is something in that medical supply drawer from earlier." Dallas offered. Isabella got up from her seat and opened the drawer to see if there was something to be fair for everyone.

"There's some tongue pressers in here. We can cut one and whoever gets the short one has to go. Then we just go again till the order is decided."

"Works for me." Bryan said. Isabella grabbed 6 depressors and ripped the bottom off of one. Putting them behind her back, she mixed them up so she couldn't be accused of cheating. Then she put them in her hand for everyone to pick. Everyone reached in and grabbed a presser.

Phineas blew air through his mouth as he got the short stick. "Well, looks like I'm going first."

"I'll go second." Ferb volunteered.

"I'll go after you," Bryan added. Bryan looked over at Dallas.

"Ladies first," Dallas countered Bryan's look.

Isabella and Addison looked at each other. "I'll go before you if you want."

"Alright, I'm fine with that." Addison answered.

"I'll round out everything then." Dallas finished.

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation.

"Have you all decided whose first?" An underling asked. Phineas stood up and walked toward the door. "Follow me please." The underling led Phineas down the corridor, took a turn or two and finally arrived at an unmarked room. "Just inside here. Good luck."

Phineas thanked the underling as he opened the door and entered the barely lit room.

A couple of can lights hung from the ceiling, giving off a little light. The room was seemed rather large, but the light could have been deceiving Phineas' sight, but he saw what looked like an old gurney or chiropractor's chair. Next to that was a stool on wheels with a simple table next to that. Phineas couldn't see what was on the table, but he could tell the silhouette of a book. A man was arranging things here and there, focused on his work.

"Please, have a seat." The man called out, but Phineas could recognize the voice.

"Is there anything you don't do?" Phineas asked the man as he made his way to the table.

"Not much, but I was in charge of learning everything about this book, and therefore, this is one of the things that I learned to do. I only trust one other person with this book, but he's not ready to receive it yet." John answered as he took the book off the table and began to flip toward the page he knew well.

Phineas sat down as John looked over the notes again. "Alright Phineas, I'm going to tell you a few things. My rune/ability/ whatever you call it is as a sensor. I am able to sense the power within a person. I also can tell what rune is best suited for people if I ever needed to write a rune on someone."

"Where is your rune?" Phineas asked.

"Mine is on my back on the right shoulder. It's green color and shaped like almost like circle radiating outward, but a red streak runs straight through the middle of it."

"Kinda like the colors of your shirt?"

Jeff laughed. "Yeah, it would be kinda like the colors of my shirt."

"So what's going to happen? What's the whole process?" Phineas questioned

"I'm going focus the essence of different runes in my hand. My rune, when the right rune is focused will send pulsations through my arms. After that will come the hard part, I have to write the rune onto your body. Normally it's just born in a random spot, but for all of you I'm going to just place it on the backs of your hand. It's the only spot that the book tells where I can put it."

"Have you ever done this before?"

"No, no I haven't" Jeff admitted. The silence was a little heavy for a moment before Jeff spoke again. "Alright, please follow my instructions and don't worry, everything is under control. Now, please lay on your stomach."

Phineas did as he was asked, flipping over so he was lying on his stomach. He could hear John moving something as he flipped over, moving something next to the table. "Now stick out your right hand." Again Phineas followed directions. His hand out, John moved the restrainer under the hand and began to strap Phineas' hand down. "It's only to keep your hand still while I'm working. You could completely ruin all of the work that we have accomplished." John answered before Phineas could protest. Phineas wrist had been secured, preventing the hand from being jerked around while the hand was wrapped around the handle, which John told Phineas to hold on to.

"Last chance to stop this. Once I begin, it has to be completed all the way to the end. Are you ready?" Phineas nodded his head.

John took a deep breath before he began. With a quick thrust of his hand into the ground, a bright blue circle light up the ground. Slowly, runes, similar to what had surrounded Phineas and his friends when they were first transported from the past began to form around on the ground. It seemed to take a long time, but about only a minute later, the circle had been completed. John looked over at his notes that he had taken from studying the book. He then focused intently into his hand; a brown aura appeared, surrounding his hand. He waved his hand over Phineas' body, and then the aura dissipated. Again, Jeff looked at his notes again, this time a light blue aura appeared around his hand. He repeated his process again, but still nothing happened. Next, Jeff focused and a darker blue aura appeared. This time when he passed his hand over Phineas, pulsations shot down John's arm.

John then looked at his notes, not letting the aura dissipate around his hand. John picked up a scalpel from the table that he had with him. Pulling the stool next to Phineas' hand and sat down, and very delicately just laid the tip of the blade on the back of his hand. Then slowly he pressed the blade into Phineas' hand. Phineas was surprised and let out a yelp. His first reaction was to jerk his arm back, but because his arm had been restrained, he couldn't. Phineas tightened his grip around the handle that he was holding, trying to hope that some of the pain would go away.

"I know that it hurts, but it's what thousands of people before you endured just to live. Besides the beginning is always the hard part, well so I was told." John spoke for the first time since the whole thing began."

"Would it distract you if I asked a question?" Phineas asked.

"No, it wouldn't bother me right now," John responded as he slowly carved a curving line on Phineas' hand. "The only thing is if I ask you to be quiet, it's cause I need to focus. Otherwise, it's just time consuming."

"So you sensed what power that was suited for me?"

"Yes, it's a rare talent that people were only born with. Many other runes are repeated throughout the world, but only two or three people in a generation have my ability."

"Wow, that's kind of cool." Phineas winced as John now finished the third curving line.

"It's interesting, but it's not always that great. I mean when I was a kid, I would see my friends that could grow their limbs to fifteen feet, or could simply levitate off the ground and fly across the air, my abilities seemed kind of trivial. But it was when I was approached by the leader of the First and he asked me to join just because my power was so rare, it made things seem better. And then after his guidance and training helped me, he promoted me to his second."

"Wait, so the guy who died to save everyone that you told us about, that was your commander?"

"No," John countered loudly. He finished the line he was working on before he continued. "To most he was a commander or leader. To me and only a handful of others, he was a mentor, friend." John had to stop, he hadn't thought about what had happened in a long time. It was something that was emotional for him. He breathed out before continuing his work. "When he gave me The Book and the command of The First, I wasn't completely thrilled, because I knew that it was because he was going to die."

"I- I'm sorry." Phineas said, not really knowing what he should say.

"It's alright, most of us have moved on. I work in his memory, that his sacrifice wasn't in vain." Before Phineas could ask another question, John asked Phineas to be quiet. John looked at his notes one more time before continuing. The aura had continued to appear around John's hand. He placed his hand on top of the rune. Phineas couldn't make out the mumbling John was speaking but he did notice the aura that was around John's hand seep into the rune that had been written onto his hand. He could feel it go through the rune, filling all the lines in his hand.

"Alright, everything is done." John began to undo the straps on the restraints. "All I need to do now is to wrap up the rune in a bandage just to make sure you don't get infected or something. I did just cut into your hand after all."

"So what happens now?" Phineas asked.

"Well, you just need a little while to heal, but otherwise you are ready to at least for now be outside the safe room. I'd suggest for now going to the mess hall because I'm sure by now you guys are a little hungry." John answered as he began to wrap Phineas' hand.

"When can I look at my rune?"

"In a little bit. I'd prefer that you wait till everyone has gotten their rune so you can all see them at one time. Can you go send the next one in?"

"Uh, sure thing." Phineas left the room while John rearranged his notes again and cleaned his scalpel. A few minutes later, a knock on the door disturbed John's work.

"Come in," John called.

The door opened and Ferb walked in with Phineas staying outside the door.

"I'm going back to the room for now. I'll wait for you to get or whatever you like." Ferb nodded as Phineas closed the door behind him.

"Welcome, please lay down." John instructed. Ferb did as he was instructed. "I'm just going to strap your hand down in order to keep it from moving while I'm working." Ferb just nodded his head. "Don't talk much I take it."

"Only when something needs to be said." Ferb replied.

"I understand. I'm sure you know as well as I do that some people talk more than they need to." Ferb silently agreed and John continued his work in silence. Focusing a different aura on his hand, John found what rune resonated with Ferb. Ferb could see that John was focused on his work, choosing not to stop him even as the blade pierced his skin.

"Do you sing?" John asked as he finished the first shape on Ferb's hand. Ferb raised an eyebrow in question. "Do you sing? I know it's a weird question, but it seems to me like you have this feeling that even though you don't talk much, you love music, and you like to sing." John explained.

"Well, I do like to sing, but I'm only known for a song me and my friends sang when we were kids."

"Oh, which song was that?"

"It was Gitche-Gitche-Goo, by Phineas and The Ferbtones." Ferb answered.

John stopped his work. "Wait, you were part of the Phineas and the Ferbtones?" Ferb nodded his head. John resumed his writing. "Well, you might not know this but, I actually am a big fan of you guys."

"How is that possible? That was so long ago."

"Music didn't really move forward after you guys were around, and then when the war happened, any kind of progress stopped, so we really only had the music that was around when the war started." Ferb simply nodded in understanding. "So I'm guessing that one of the people here is Phineas?"

Ferb nodded. "How about Isabella and the other Ferb-ettes?"

"Isabella and Addison are the two girls here."

"Huh, well I never would have guessed that." John replied, starting a new cut on Ferb's hand.

"So I have a question, ow!" Ferb flinched for the first time.

"Yeah, sorry bout that, but there's only a little bit left. So you had a question"

"Why did you pick us? Why all out of all the times and all of the people you could have chosen, why did you pick the six of us?"

"Well, I really didn't. I just did what the Book told me to do. I personally didn't have any clue who we would be summoning, when they were from, or what they were going to do when they got here. I just have to trust that what we are doing is right. I have strayed from my convictions and believed that we may have been off course, and that proved to have devastating consequences. When you got as old as I am, you learn that many times when things get tough, you need to stick to what you believe, what you know is right."

"Is that why you do this?"

"Yes." John answered. He set his scalpel down and began to undo Ferb's arm. "I just got to wrap your hand up, and you're good to go."

Ferb laid up and stretched his shoulder to loosen the muscle. Before he could see what rune he had on his hand, John had begun wrapping the wound.

"Keep this on until everything is ready." Ferb raised an eyebrow in question. "I'll tell you when that is, trust me on this one. Can you go send in the next person? I have to set up for them again." Ferb nodded and left the room.

(*)(*)

John wiped the sweat off of his brow as he set the scalpel down. "You're done my friend."

Dallas released the grip he had on the restraint. "Cool, so what's next?"

"Well, since you're the last person, I'll show you all to the mess hall and get you some grub while I go get a shower. After that, I'll start you on some training. I am a little surprised though; I have seen the runes you all have gotten only a few times before, I have only seen your rune on one other person."

"Oh really, who had it?"

"An old friend you can say. She used to be a part of the First a few years ago, until some things happened."

"Like what?" Dallas asked. Before John could answer, he could feel pulsations shooting through his rune and throughout his body.

"Hold that thought," John rushed to the door and yelled down the hallway. "I need a messenger, now!" Within a few moments, a couple of people appeared. "Prepare the front lines, everyone to their positions, someone or something is coming, battle stations!" The two people saluted and as quickly as they had appeared, they were gone. John turned back to Dallas. "Come with me."

"What's going on?" Dallas asked as he followed John down the hallway.

"If I had to make a guess, a small strike force is here to try to test our defenses for Nether- runers."

"So aren't you going to fight them?" Dallas asked

"Not me personally." John opened the door that the rest of the group was staying. "Time to get some field experience."


End file.
